IT IS RELATED IN
THE ANNALS OF CLAIRVAUX THAT ST. BERNARD ASKED OUR LORD WHICH WAS HIS
GREATEST
UNRECORDED SUFFERING, AND OUR LORD ANSWERED:

"I HAD ON MY SHOULDER
WHILE I BORE MY CROSS ON THE WAY OF SORROWS,
A GRIEVOUS WOUND
WHICH WAS MORE PAINFUL THAN THE OTHERS, AND WHICH IS NOT RECORDED BY
MEN.
HONOR THIS WOUND WITH THY DEVOTION, AND I WILL GRANT THEE WHATSOEVER
THOU
DOST ASK THROUGH ITS VIRTUE AND MERIT. AND IN REGARD TO ALL THOSE WHO
SHALL
VENERATE THIS WOUND, I WILL REMIT TO THEM ALL THEIR VENIAL SINS, AND
WILL
NO LONGER REMEMBER THEIR MORTAL SINS."

PRAYER
TO THE WOUND
ON THE SHOULDER

O most loving Jesus,
meek lamb of God, I, a miserable sinner,
salute and worship
the most sacred Wound of Thy Shoulder
on which Thou didst
bear Thy heavy Cross, which so
tore Thy flesh and
laid bare Thy bones as to inflict on Thee
an anguish greater
than any other wound of Thy most blessed body.
I adore Thee, O
Jesus most sorrowful; I praise and glorify Thee,
and give Thee thanks
for this most sacred and painful
Wound, beseeching
Thee by that exceeding pain, and by
the crushing burden
of Thy heavy Cross, to be merciful to me,
a sinner, and to
forgive me all my mortal and venial sins, and
to lead me on toward
Heaven along the Way of the Cross. Amen.